Spyfall

Doctor Who returns for the third decade of its revival with this epic action-fest. The name of this two-parter has obvious echoes of the other great British icon that has survived due to the lead actor being changed every few years, but Bond is not the only drawer that Chris Chibnall gleefully plunders from. The various time zones, the Doctor setting up problems and solutions for herself and her Fam in the future, all have echoes of the timey-wimier Steven Moffat adventures and The Fam as fugitives is a situation reminiscent of "The Sound of Drums". There is still a degree of woolliness, but the dialogue is more polished than before and, although it comes close to emulating the pat conclusions of his work for Moffat and RTD, the resolution doesn’t feel like a cop-out.- to be honest, it is probably not too unfair to posit that Chibnall came up with the title and constructed a story from there. A more major caveat it's that Chibnall hasn't fully thought about the full implications of using historical characters - whilst drawing attention to all-but-forgotten women of the past is laudable, using Noor Inayat Khan does raise uncomfortable questions, when one considers how she died in real life.

The slight vagueness, however, becomes a strength when it comes to the story’s realisation. One of the strongest aspects of Whittaker’s debut story was the effectiveness in which it conveyed the alien. The monsters in question, the Kasaavins are visualised as alarming apparitions, like something out of an Usborne Paranormal book and their ‘realm’ is as unexplained at the end as it is inexplicable at the beginning. The use of two directors works in the story’s favour as each episode has a separate pace and feel. The guest cast are first rate with Stephen Fry making an all-too brief appearance as ‘C’ and Lenny Henry being menacing in a very restrained performance as Barton, a very believable character, whose revelatory speech is all-too close to reality. Sylvie Briggs and Aurora Marion are great as Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan, and we mustn’t forget the brief Lovelace/Babbage double-act! Even the duo who form “O”'s Aussie security detail are fun throwaway characters.

However, the main guest star is Sacha Dhawan for, sooner than I expected, the Master is back. After the revelation of his identity, we are treated to the surprising return of the TCE – but Dhawan is definitely taking the Master into unknown territory. Dhawan burns with a raw fury that exceeds his predecessors. In particular, the moment when he asks the Doctor to kneel and call him by name is truly spine-tingling – although it did seem as if the Doctor was going to launch into a rendition of Metallica's greatest song! Another example of Chibnall not fully thinking things through is the Doctor using the Master's appearance as an Asian man against him with the Nazis – Third Reich pan-Aryan pseudo-anthropology notwithstanding.

Refreshingly, however, Chibnall seems to have ironed out most of the kinks of his crowded TARDIS and the Fam(ily) dynamic works much more smoothly with Cole, Gill and Walsh being more than up to the challenge, their impromptu spycraft being both funny and fun. Our leading lady relishes each challenge – there is betrayal and joy around every corner and Jodie nails every turn. The close-up of her surveying the ruins of Gallifrey is wonderful.

It is true to say that, whilst I enjoyed the previous season a lot, I had resigned myself to the fact that the programme’s best days were behind it. However, the past has been learned from and Spyfall gives us hope that the Chibnall era might be capable of true greatness in its future.

NEXT: "Orphan 55"